Have you ever meticulously mixed different ratios of household materials, hoping they would combine to form the delightful slippery substance we call slime? You may not have realized it in the moment, but you could consider yourself an amateur chemist! If you successfully created slime as a kid, you were doing more than just contributing to the 2016-era craze; you were forming a non-Newtonian fluid. These fluids don’t follow Isaac’s law of viscosity; their “thickness” changes

HBO Max’s The Pitt is a medical drama that has taken television by storm. Each season of the Emmy-winning show follows a day in a Pittsburgh emergency room, with each episode comprising an hour of one shift. The Pitt has received lots of praise for its realistic portrayal of emergency medicine and for highlighting the nuanced issues American healthcare faces in a post COVID-19 world. Is this praise warranted? John Wiesenfarth, MD, is an attending physician with the Hawaii Pe

Celiac disease is an inflammatory autoimmune condition triggered by the ingestion of gluten, a protein found in cereals such as wheat, rye, and barley. This disease causes underlying damage to the mucosal lining of the small intestine, leading to flattening of the villi, the small hairlike projections of the intestine that facilitate nutrient uptake. In the long term, this damage can lead to malabsorption of nutrients. A person with this condition also experiences symptoms li

Hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, and anxiety are just a few of the taxing symptoms that come with menopause. These symptoms occur because the ovaries begin producing less estrogen during menopause, which has wide-reaching implications for the entire body. Pharmaceutical scientists at Xinjiang Medical University have developed a compound estrogen-progesterone patch that offers a promising new avenue for managing these symptoms. Transdermal estrogen patches are a common the

From “mewing” to “bone-smashing”, and almost everything in between, the internet has quickly fallen into obsession with unconventional ways to enhance appearances. As multiple online communities emerge in the wake of this, one method seems to be among the most popular: injection of grey-market peptides. Although their spike in fame is recent, peptides have been around for a while. Insulin was first discovered in 1921, and others such as oxytocin and Ozempic have been FDA-app

Smith Cheerleaders Hana Hernandez and Louisa Miller-Out demonstrating a toe touch. Photo by Sadye Prebus. What do cheerleaders and Sir Isaac Newton have in common? A robust understanding of the laws of physics! Based on his observations of the behavior of objects on Earth, Newton wrote three laws of motion. Cheerleaders understand these laws intuitively and apply them in order to execute difficult stunts. Gary Felder, a professor of physics at Smith, helped break down two fou

Collage by Louisa Miller-Out, including pages from Frankenstein. In the dark and stormy summer of 1816, a monster was born on the banks of Lake Geneva. Mary Shelley breathed life into a creature cobbled from inanimate parts, a creature who has lived in our collective imagination for over two centuries. Frankenstein is an enduring and compelling narrative because it raises questions that remain unanswered, questions that are especially relevant in the age of artificial intelli

Lilly Butler, Sandra Li, Hannh Macpherson, Amelia Charland (left to right) presenting their research at Collaborations. Photo Courtesy of Kevin Shea From Mountain Day to Cromwell Day to Rally Day, one of the most beloved aspects of Smith is the unique days we have off classes. These days invite students to celebrate, to reflect, and to be in community with each other. They are concrete manifestations of the values that Smith holds as an institution. It is time to add Celebrat

At the end of spring break, the Botanic Garden wrapped up its annual Bulb Show, where thousands of flowers contrasted dreary March skies. The Bulb Show is an annual two-week event that began over 100 years ago. It attracts visitors with precisely coordinated blooms and art installations, but to Botanic Garden Director John Berryhill, the show is more than just a colorful display. “I hope it's [an] invitation to see what we are the other 50 weeks of the year,” Berryhill said

Picture a ten-foot by eight-foot hole, five feet deep, filled with rocks and logs in such a way that there are gaps between them. Three tunnels, made of clay roofing tiles, connect the hole's depths to the surrounding hillside. Flat rocks surrounding the hole warm in the winter sun. Courtesy of Sarah Gygax ’28. Watercolor cross-section of the hibernaculum by Sarah Gygax ’28. This likely does not sound like the best place for rest, unless you are an eastern ratsnake. Smith Co

When he’s not drinking raw milk, mauling bears, or rejecting the measles vaccine, RFK Jr. is busy telling women how to manage their bodies. Trump’s inaugural National Conference on Women’s Health in Washington was held from March 11-13th, aimed at advancing research, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of health conditions affecting women. The event was spearheaded by representatives from the MAHA movement, covering topics including menopause, hormone therapy, fertility, an

“Turn on the propane first with this knob, then turn this knob for the oxygen.” A flame, half a foot long, bursts from the nozzle. That was Sally Prasch, a scientific glassblower of the UMass Glassblowing Laboratory. In February, the Student Event Committee organized three workshops at the lab for Smithies to learn the unique craft of glassblowing, an intersection of art and science that cannot be found on campus. Sally Prasch demonstrates how to melt the end of a glass rod.

The night before a snowstorm, as students across campus hunker down with hot chocolate and cross their fingers for a snow day, Smith Facilities Management gets to work. They roll out trucks pouring a sticky, sometimes smelly, brown substance onto Smith’s roads and walkways. This mysterious concoction is called Liquid Magic , and its contents have much to reveal about the science behind ice melts. The term ice melt is a bit of a misnomer; most ice melts actually work by preven

In California’s Death Valley National Park, there is a water-filled cavern known as the Devil’s Hole. These waters maintain temperatures of 91°F with oxygen levels as low as 2–3 ppm, and they are home to the critically endangered Devil’s Hole pupfish , hereafter referred to as D.H. pupfish. Devil’s Hole pupfish, Feuerbacher. (2011). Creative Commons License . The D.H. pupfish has the most limited range of any known vertebrate, found only in the upper 100 feet of a small caver

Photo by Jonathan Cooper on Unsplash In the winter of 2024, three extraordinary wolves were born on a 2000-acre wildlife preserve in an undisclosed location. Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi are the poster children for Colossal Biosciences, advertised as the first direwolves to walk the earth since the species’ extinction tens of thousands of years ago. Their snowy coats, formidable size, and distinctive vocalizations are absent in the gray wolves who provided their base genome

Flasks on top of a graduation cap. Creative Commons License . ‘Tis the season of senior theses. You can’t walk past a TV or bulletin board in Ford without seeing an ad for lunchtime thesis talks. Maybe you’re a first-year student who’s just forayed into the STEM world, or maybe you’re a lab rat junior with senior year looming. Either way, if you’re interested in research, the idea of doing a senior thesis can feel at once completely exciting and completely intimidating. It’s

“All of astronomy started with naked eye observations at nighttime of the planets and the stars and the sun and the moon moving and people scratching their heads… Astronomers, since time immemorial, have had this incredible gift of nature, the dark night sky, and access to seeing with our own eyes how the heavens work and how the universe works.” For Smith Astronomy Professor James Lowenthal, a love of observing the night sky sparked an acute awareness of light pollution at a

Image from Freepik Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), a type of pancreatic cancer, has a five-year survival rate of less than ten percent . Often diagnosed in later stages, it is one of the most lethal diseases. Pancreatic cancer is on the path to becoming the second-leading cause of cancer death by 2030 , with diagnoses rising each year. Current treatments include chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation, but do not improve clinical outcomes. A recent study published in th

To many people, it may seem unconventional to have an organic molecule or a neuron tattooed on their body. However, after completing a difficult STEM course, memorializing these concepts as a tattoo can serve as a reminder of not just the difficult material, but also the connection made between classmates and the pride felt after completing the course. These courses are not only major requirements, but also a stepping stone in your academic journey to discover what you love.

As Smith students headed home in late December, an ethereal visitor took up residence in Hampshire County: the Snowy Owl. The arrival of these rare owls brought enthusiastic crowds to Northampton and Hadley, along with questions about how to best appreciate birds without harming them. Snowy Owls are an irruptive species in Hampshire County, meaning they are irregular visitors based on their unpredictable migratory patterns. They breed in remote areas in the Arctic and occasi

“Do you want someone else to live your life for you?” That question, posed by Senior Laboratory Instructor Joe Yeager of the Chemistry Department, reflects the heart of the discussions surrounding AI use in the classroom. When does AI go from being a tool to replacing the learning and living that should be done by students? As faculty attempt to draw this line in the sand through personal and departmental policies, students are left to navigate a shifting sea of expectations

In the mammalian world, bowhead whales are unrivaled in lifespan and second only to blue whales in size, yet these whales seemingly evade cancer. A recent study led by researchers at the University of Rochester identified that this cancer resistance comes from a protein called CIRBP that helps repair DNA damage. Cancer can develop when genetic errors accumulate in cells over time, but bowhead whales, which have a 200+ year lifespan and many cells, have a paradoxical resist

“Okay, woman in STEM!” a friend of a friend exclaims when I tell them I’m majoring in biology. “I kinda wish I’d done that instead of this useless English degree. I could be making six figures straight out of undergrad.” “Well, I’m going to med school, so I won’t be rich for at least another decade,” I joke, but something within me bristles at the implication that money is my primary reason for becoming a doctor, or even for majoring in a STEM field. Most of my fellow pre-he

Preeclampsia, a condition that causes high blood pressure and organ damage during pregnancy, is responsible for 14% of maternal deaths each year. Despite the high prevalence of preeclampsia, its causes continue to elude scientists. Even more troublingly, there are currently no tests that can consistently predict the onset of preeclampsia early on in pregnancy, and early diagnosis is critical for effectively treating the condition. A team of biologists and doctors may have hit